Film

Bernard Hill, actor who rose to fame in Boys from the Blackstuff, dies aged 79

Stellar career included roles in James Cameron’s Titanic and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Bernard Hill in 2012. The actor enjoyed a long and busy career, especially in film and television, and was twice nominated for a Bafta. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Mark Brown
Sun May 5 2024 - 18:33

Bernard Hill, the stage, television and film actor who rose to fame for his unforgettable portrayal of Yosser Hughes, has died at the age of 79.

Hill played the seminal character with the famous “gizza job” catchphrase in Alan Bleasdale’s 1982 BBC series Boys from the Blackstuff. It helped launch a stellar career that included playing the captain of the Titanic in James Cameron’s 1997 film, and Théoden, king of Rohan, in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Hill’s agent Lou Coulson said the actor died in the early hours of Sunday.

One of the first to pay tribute on Sunday was the singer Barbara Dickson who worked with Hill in Willy Russell’s 1974 stage musical John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert.

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Dickson said on X: “A really marvellous actor. It was a privilege to have crossed paths with him. RIP Benny x.”

Hill played John Lennon in the musical, one of a number of Merseyside characters that the Manchester-born actor became famous for.

None more so than Yosser Hughes, a jobless, desperate father of three who became an emblem of everything that was wrong in Thatcher’s Britain. The character would pester and hector people saying: “Gizza job. Go on. Gizza job. I could do that,” and when he wasn’t head-butting people he was banging his own head against the wall, literally and metaphorically.

It was a moving portrayal of a man in profound mental disintegration but sometimes extremely funny. Yosser, always at his wits’ end, went to confession to tell the priest he was desperate. The priest says: “Call me Dan,” to which Yosser tearfully replies: “I’m desperate, Dan.”

Hill’s performance saw him nominated for a best television actor Bafta, losing out to Alec Guinness for Smiley’s People.

Bleasdale has described Hill’s performance as Yosser as “the great, definitive performance of his generation”.

Hill was reunited with Willy Russell in the film Shirley Valentine, starring Pauline Collins, in which he played the title character’s husband, Joe. Again, he gave a memorable performance, notably in the scene in which Shirley serves him “chips and egg” on a Thursday. “We have steak on Thursday,” Joe protests. “We always have steak on Thursday … where’s me steak!”

He is posthumously back on British TV screens this weekend, playing Martin Freeman’s dad in the BBC police series The Responder, set in Liverpool.

Interviewed recently about his fondness for the city, Hill said: “Liverpool is one of my favourite places, I’ve got a great relationship with the city. I lived there for a long time and my daughter was born there so it’s like my second home.”

Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, paid tribute. “Bernard Hill blazed a trail across the screen, and his long-lasting career filled with iconic and remarkable roles is a testament to his incredible talent,” she said.

“From Boys from the Blackstuff, to Wolf Hall, The Responder, and many more, we feel truly honoured to have worked with Bernard at the BBC. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time.”

When Hollywood came knocking for Hill it led to roles that included Titanic, as well as the San Quentin prison warden Luther Plunkitt in Clint Eastwood’s True Crime and the friendly inventor Philos opposite Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, in The Scorpion King.

Hill enjoyed the work but said he never wanted to join other British actors moving to Los Angeles. He will be best known to many people as Théoden in the Lord of the Rings films. Asked about his experience filming in New Zealand Hill said: “I loved every minute of every day that I was on Lord of the Rings.”

Hill had been due to be at Comic Con in Liverpool on Sunday. It said on X: “We’re heartbroken to hear the news of Bernard Hill’s passing. A great loss. Thinking of his family at this very sad time, and wishing them a lot of strength.”

His many television roles included playing David Blunkett in Channel 4’s A Very Social Secretary, for which he was again nominated for a Bafta, this time missing out to Mark Rylance for The Government Inspector.

In 2015, he played the Duke of Norfolk in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.

Hill’s theatre work included Macbeth at the Leicester Haymarket in 1985, Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard in the west end in 1989 and Sir Chiffley Lockheart in Ben Elton’s debut play Gasping at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 1990.

Hill was born to working-class parents in 1944. After college in Rusholme he trained as a quantity surveyor but had dreams of being an actor. When he failed an audition for drama school he decided to train as a teacher but was encouraged to stick at drama by a part-time tutor he met at college – Mike Leigh.

In 1973, Hill, in one of his earliest roles, appeared in Leigh’s first TV drama Hard Labour as the son of a woman, played by Liz Smith, quietly enduring a life of grinding domestic work. – Guardian

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